Uploaded February 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Want to save money? Getting the best price can be hard, and it's even harder if you aren't comfortable using the language you have to negotiate in. In this useful English lesson, you'll learn how to get a better deal by negotiating prices. You'll learn phrases and vocabulary you can use to get a better price on your car, house, or on any item at a local market. Learn about the different ways you can ask about prices politely, so you can get more for less! I'll also teach you some helpful vocabulary we use to talk about prices, like "pricey", "ballpark", "halfway", and many more. You'll also learn a little bit about cultural aspects of negotiating prices in North America.
engvid.com/how-to-negotiate-vocabulary-expressions-and-questions-to-save-you-money
TRANSCRIPT
I've always wanted to do that. Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on: "How to Negotiate Prices". So, this is a business vocabulary lesson, and today we are going to look at how to ask about the cost of something, how to comment about the cost being too high for you, and then how to get someone to maybe lower the price of something. Now, what situations can we do this in, you know, in the 21st century? This is if you're trying to negotiate the cost of a car maybe, the cost of a house, or it can be something in a local market or a garage sale.
So, first let's look at how to ask about the cost of something. And I have-one, two, three, four, five-six different questions that you can use to ask about cost, to ask about the price. Number one: "How much does this/that/it cost?" For the sake of me not saying the words: "this", "that", "it" every time, I'm just going to say "this", but know that you can say: "How much does this cost?", "How much does that cost?", "How much does it cost?" Okay? So, next: "How much is this/that/it?" Instead of: "How much does this cost?", "How much is this?" Next: "How much is this/that/it going for?" So, this is an expression. Something goes for a certain amount of money. For example, say: "Oh, this comic book is going for $20." Maybe it's a rare collector's edition or something. "It is going for...", "It costs..." This is how much people are paying for it. Okay. "Hey. How much is it for this/that/it?" So you're asking: "How much money, you know, is it...? Does it cost for this? How much is it for this?" And if you want to be a little bit more specific, this one you can use in a more informal situation, like a garage sale, for example, or at the market, like: "Hey. How much do you want for this?" Okay? Or: "How much do you want for that or it? How much do you want for it?" And another one: "Is this/that the final price?" So, you're kind of opening the door to say: "Mm, is this the final price? I'm not sure I want to pay this price. Is it the final price or can I talk about it with you?" Sometimes the person you are talking to, you know, if you ask them this question: "Is this the final price?" and they'll say: "Well, you know, what are you thinking? Like what do you have in mind? What is another price we can talk about?"
Now, if you want to negotiate and you want to get the price down, you need to comment and say: "It's a little..." For example, this thing, whatever, you're looking at the price and this thing... Imagine this is $500. $500 for this amazing globe. Now, you can say: "$500. It's a little expensive.", "It's a little pricey." "Pricey" is an adjective. You see the word "price", it's slang for expensive. "It's a little pricey.", "It's a little out of my price range." So, for example, you have a range. A range means kind of like from $0 to $200 is my range. That's where I can go with the price, but $500, that is ridiculous. Same with: "It's a little over my budget." So, your budget is how much money you can spend or how much money you want to spend. So, my budget to buy this globe was $300. $500 is over my budget. You can say: "It's more than I have. I don't have $500. It's more than I have." Or you can also say: "It's more than I can pay." or: "It's more than I can afford." So now you've opened the door, you've started the discussion, saying: "I'm interested in this globe, but it doesn't really, you know, match what I can pay you." So let's see where the conversation can go from here.
Okay, now you've asked about the price, you've commented that it's a bit too expensive. It's time to make an offer. It's time to say what you can pay for it. So, there are a couple of phrases that you can use. You can say, for example: "Would you sell it for $200?" That's really low. You can also say: "Would you take $200?", "How about $200?" If you want to be very direct: "I'll give you $200." Okay? So, very direct, saying: "I will give you $200."
Want to save money? Getting the best price can be hard, and it's even harder if you aren't comfortable using the language you have to negotiate in. In this useful English lesson, you'll learn how to get a better deal by negotiating prices. You'll learn phrases and vocabulary you can use to get a better price on your car, house, or on any item at a local market. Learn about the different ways you can ask about prices politely, so you can get more for less! I'll also teach you some helpful vocabulary we use to talk about prices, like "pricey", "ballpark", "halfway", and many more. You'll also learn a little bit about cultural aspects of negotiating prices in North America.
engvid.com/how-to-negotiate-vocabulary-expressions-and-questions-to-save-you-money
TRANSCRIPT
I've always wanted to do that. Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on: "How to Negotiate Prices". So, this is a business vocabulary lesson, and today we are going to look at how to ask about the cost of something, how to comment about the cost being too high for you, and then how to get someone to maybe lower the price of something. Now, what situations can we do this in, you know, in the 21st century? This is if you're trying to negotiate the cost of a car maybe, the cost of a house, or it can be something in a local market or a garage sale.
So, first let's look at how to ask about the cost of something. And I have-one, two, three, four, five-six different questions that you can use to ask about cost, to ask about the price. Number one: "How much does this/that/it cost?" For the sake of me not saying the words: "this", "that", "it" every time, I'm just going to say "this", but know that you can say: "How much does this cost?", "How much does that cost?", "How much does it cost?" Okay? So, next: "How much is this/that/it?" Instead of: "How much does this cost?", "How much is this?" Next: "How much is this/that/it going for?" So, this is an expression. Something goes for a certain amount of money. For example, say: "Oh, this comic book is going for $20." Maybe it's a rare collector's edition or something. "It is going for...", "It costs..." This is how much people are paying for it. Okay. "Hey. How much is it for this/that/it?" So you're asking: "How much money, you know, is it...? Does it cost for this? How much is it for this?" And if you want to be a little bit more specific, this one you can use in a more informal situation, like a garage sale, for example, or at the market, like: "Hey. How much do you want for this?" Okay? Or: "How much do you want for that or it? How much do you want for it?" And another one: "Is this/that the final price?" So, you're kind of opening the door to say: "Mm, is this the final price? I'm not sure I want to pay this price. Is it the final price or can I talk about it with you?" Sometimes the person you are talking to, you know, if you ask them this question: "Is this the final price?" and they'll say: "Well, you know, what are you thinking? Like what do you have in mind? What is another price we can talk about?"
Now, if you want to negotiate and you want to get the price down, you need to comment and say: "It's a little..." For example, this thing, whatever, you're looking at the price and this thing... Imagine this is $500. $500 for this amazing globe. Now, you can say: "$500. It's a little expensive.", "It's a little pricey." "Pricey" is an adjective. You see the word "price", it's slang for expensive. "It's a little pricey.", "It's a little out of my price range." So, for example, you have a range. A range means kind of like from $0 to $200 is my range. That's where I can go with the price, but $500, that is ridiculous. Same with: "It's a little over my budget." So, your budget is how much money you can spend or how much money you want to spend. So, my budget to buy this globe was $300. $500 is over my budget. You can say: "It's more than I have. I don't have $500. It's more than I have." Or you can also say: "It's more than I can pay." or: "It's more than I can afford." So now you've opened the door, you've started the discussion, saying: "I'm interested in this globe, but it doesn't really, you know, match what I can pay you." So let's see where the conversation can go from here.
Okay, now you've asked about the price, you've commented that it's a bit too expensive. It's time to make an offer. It's time to say what you can pay for it. So, there are a couple of phrases that you can use. You can say, for example: "Would you sell it for $200?" That's really low. You can also say: "Would you take $200?", "How about $200?" If you want to be very direct: "I'll give you $200." Okay? So, very direct, saying: "I will give you $200."
